moralorel79

Every year Mardi Gras ends with "Fat Tuesday" and then Ash Wednesday. After Lent, Easter begins. These events always happen back to back. Does this mean that Mardi Gras is a Catholic holiday?

I asked this question in the geology section, but so far no answers. Someone has made this claim and I don't know of any evidence to support his claim. Am I missing something? Please provide sources if you can. Thanks!

I was unaware that such an event occurred or might have occurred. But I have recently been told by someone that science proves this to be true. Is there any merit to this claim? I am totally unaware of any evidence of such an event.

Or is there more to it than that? What say you?

This way we can save money on their salaries, not have to pay them benefits, and probably get the same results we have today.

Let's see how they like losing their jobs!

I was watching NBC this morning and they talked about how great the economy is right now. They went so far as to say that the economy "hasn't been this good since fall of 2008."

Am I the only one who found it ironic that they basically are saying that the economy hasn't been this good since Bush was in office?

Obama or Romney?

No, this isn't a typo. Practically ever major criticism of Bush can also be made for Obama. Both signed the Patriot Act. Obama renewed the Patriot Act. Obama sent MORE troops to Afghanistan than Bush ever did. Obama renewed the Bush tax cuts. Obama agreed to every single one of Bush's requests for more funding for the military. Obama has actually RAISED military spending, MORE than Bush. Bush and Obama both passed major bailouts for companies that made poor financial decisions. Obama has sent bombing raids to five countries already! Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, and Syria have all seen Obama's share of bombing raids. Obama has already used more drone strikes than Bush did. Obama has been known for keeping vital information from his security council.

Seeing as Obama is so similar to Bush, I am asking myself which Republican I want in the White House this time.

1. Obama did not renew the Bush tax cuts ,tax cuts for the upper class, during his first term.

2. With all of the controversy surrounding the Patriot Act, Obama did not renew the Patriot Act.

3. Obama significantly lowered the amount of soldiers in Afghanistan.

4. Obama voted against most of Bush's requests for more funding for the wars.

5. Obama has lowered military spending.

6. As promised, Obama closed down Guantanamo Bay.

7. With all of the controversy surrounding Bush's use of drone strikes, Obama has cut down on the use of drone strkes.

8. Obama has ordered bombing raids on only two countries. This is understandable because Bush started the wars in these two countries.

9. With all of the promises of a balanced budget, and with a Democratic House and Senate on his side, Obama immediately put together a budget plan and passed it through both houses.

10. Obama's health care plan has motivated medical supply companies to move operations to the U.S. because of all of the medical supplies that will be sold when everyone has health insurance.

11. Obama, the Democratic party, and even the Republican party all quietly passed a bill that allowed a tax break for the middle class and lower class. The tax break was automatically applied to the paychecks of Americans.

1. He refused to close down Guantanamo Bay even though the UN and many American citizens asked him to.

2. He renewed a controversial tax cut that gave a tax break to the upper class.

3. He repeatedly concealed very important information from members of congress including many who are even on the intelligence committee.

4. He renewed the Patriot Act even though many people have criticized how it strips citizens of their Constitutional rights.

5. Supported the action of unilateral war with a Middle Eastern nation.

6. Refuses to disband NATO even though many citizens and nations find it to be outdated and useless.

7. Pushed through Congress a very controversial stimulus bill that was opposed by many Americans and Congress.

8. Pushed through, with no compromise, a multimillion dollar health care bill.

9. Kept a controversial Secretary of Defense in office.

10. Didn't have very much experience with international policies before being elected president.

11. Sent a surge of troops to a Middle Eastern country while citizens and Congress were practically begging for troops to come home.

12. Lied to Congress and the American people about a major aspect of an unpopular war.

13. Signed off any every single bit of extra funding for this unpopular war.

14. Used more and more drone strikes every year, even after the deaths of many civilians and after the objection of the UN, EU, Congress, and many American citizens.

15. Has signed off on bombing campaigns in at least 5 countries.

16. Increased military spending levels even with a crumbling economy.

17. Invoked God in his military strategies.

There are many more bad things that could be said about this candidate. So would you vote for him?

I was recently speaking with an atheist who is a member of the Church of Atheism. I told him that I was sick of people saying that atheism is a religion. He agreed. Then he told me that it was common sense that the Church of Atheism IS a religion. He said that all atheists would agree. Is that true?

Please feel free to elaborate.

I have recently asked many Obama supporters why they like Obama. Not one answer has anything to do with his political record. Usually the answers are "He's handsome" or "He's charismatic". One even said she would vote for Obama because she "adore(s) Mrs. Obama." Nothing about his record. Nothing!

For the record, I don't like either candidate. I think both are quite inadequate.

I am trying to do searches on Yahoo, Google, and Bing yet no search pages show up. No matter what I search, all of the pages just stop loading. Any ideas? My virus software shows no problems.

Will they also finally get along once they get rid of the Christians, atheists, Jews, Hindus, Taoists, Buddhists, etc.?

I thought he was the head of the Taliban. The Taliban is part of Al-Qaida. I didn't know it was the head of Al-Qaida.

Let's say I give my son the choice between doing dishes tonight or playing Playstation tonight. I know that he will choose the Playstation over dishes. If he chooses the Playstation, does he no longer have free will? Seeing as I correctly predicted his decision, has he lost his free will?

I was watching EWTN on TV the other day and the nuns were saying "Hail Mary, Mother of God....". If Mary is the mother of God, doesn't that mean Jesus is God? If so, how does that fit in with the Trinity?

This isn't a criticism, I'm just asking for clarity on the matter.

Here is what my past week has been like and I can't find anything online that explains this or describes anything similar.

Day 1: I woke up with a really stiff neck that really hurt when I turned to the left.

Day 2: Same symptoms, only now I had an ear ache on my left ear.

Day 3: The neck pain almost completely went away, but my upper back became sore and stiff. My back began to swell along the spine between the shoulder blades. I rested my back all day. The arches of my feet were cramping up and were in pain.

Day 4: No more neck pain. The ear ache went away. Now my lower back is very stiff and I am experiencing chest pains on my right side. I still have foot cramps that are somewhat painful.

Day 5: Back pain is minimal but still stiff, specifically on my lower back. My jaw, on the right side, is somewhat stiff. After a few hours my jaw felt fine.

Day 6: Still a little stiff on my lower back. After not resting all day, I had some sharp pains in my lower back. These immediately went away when I rested. My jaw muscle on my right side is very very stiff. No popping or cracking. No real pain. It is just very very stiff and it's hard to close my mouth. I woke up at 2:30 am with hardly an jaw pain or stiffness whatsoever, but woke up at 6 am with a very stiff jaw. I only ate soft foods and rested my jaw as much as I could.

Day 7 (today): I woke up with my jaw being worse than ever. There's hardly any back pain and the foot pain has subsided. My left jaw muscle is somewhat sore too, but not anything close to as bad as my right jaw.

Note: I don't grind my teeth, haven't chewed gum recently, and haven't eaten anything that is hard to chew for a few weeks. There is no pain at the jaw joint (right in front of the ear), just between the jaw bones. I don't have a history of TMJ nor any back problems. I don't have any tooth pain.

Any ideas?

On R&S many Atheists said that viruses are alive. I graduated from college a few years ago so I must have missed it. When was it finally announced and agreed upon by the scientific community?